Iran, Russia discuss building 2nd unit in Bushehr NPP

Russia’s Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation says Tehran and Moscow are negotiating the construction of a second unit at Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in southern Iran.

“We are holding a dialog with the Iranian side on the option of prolonging our cooperation regarding the Bushehr NPP,” Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency quoted Nikolai Spassky, Rosatom’s deputy head, as saying on Thursday.

Spassky further said Tehran and Moscow are in the “working stage of discussing the option” of constructing a new unit in Iran’s Bushehr NPP.

In September 2013, Iran officially took over from Russia the first unit of its first 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant in Bushehr for two years. The initial construction of the Bushehr facility began in 1975 by German companies, but the work was halted following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

After signing a deal on the construction of nuclear plants in 1992, Iran and Russia reached an agreement in 1995 to complete the Bushehr NPP.

In an exclusive interview with Press TV on February 3, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said the Islamic Republic is in talks with Russia for the construction of new nuclear power plants to produce 4,000 megawatts of electricity.

On January 16, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said he had exchanged views with senior Russian officials over the construction of new nuclear power plants in Iran during his visit to Moscow.